The use of wireless communication devices to send and receive information has become increasingly prominent. Typically, an operating system is installed on a wireless communication device to manage and coordinate the various functions that the device performs. In addition to the operating system, various applications are often available for the wireless communication device that are designed to execute on the operating system. Some examples of applications available for wireless communication devices include news, sports, and weather applets, games, media players, business tools, educational software, social networking applications, internet browsers, and many more. However, in operation, such applications often request large amounts of data, placing a high demand on network bandwidth and other resources.
To address this demand, communication service providers often apply data rate-limiting policies to wireless communication devices for data usage exceeding a reasonable amount as deemed by the service provider. Typically, rate-limiting is effectuated by adjusting parameters within the home agent associated with the problem device in order to reduce the amount of data carried by radio frequency (RF) timeslots destined for the rate-limited device. For example, if the RF timeslots have a capacity of 2.4 megabits per second, the home agent might limit the slot occupancy to only 256 kilobits per second to effectuate rate-limiting on a particular device. However, such rate-limiting techniques result in inefficient use of available slot occupancy and waste power cycles transmitting partially-filled slots.
Overview
A wireless communication device comprises a wireless communication transceiver and a processing system. The wireless communication transceiver is configured to receive data via a communication network and to receive a data restriction message that instructs the wireless communication device to limit a rate at which the data is provided to a user. The processing system is configured to determine individual amounts of the data associated with a plurality of applications of the wireless communication device, identify an application of the plurality of applications associated with an individual amount of the data that meets a criterion, and limit a delivery rate at which application data associated with the application is provided to the user based on the data restriction message.
A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for operating a wireless communication device is disclosed herein. The instructions, when executed by the wireless communication device, direct the wireless communication device to receive data via a communication network, and receive a data restriction message that instructs the wireless communication device to limit a rate at which the data is provided to a user. The instructions further direct the wireless communication device to determine individual amounts of the data associated with a plurality of applications of the wireless communication device, and identify an application of the plurality of applications associated with an individual amount of the data that meets a criterion. The instructions further direct the wireless communication device to limit a delivery rate at which application data associated with the application is provided to the user based on the data restriction message.
A communication system comprises a wireless communication device and a data usage management system. The wireless communication device is configured to receive data via a communication network. The data usage management system is configured to monitor data bandwidth usage of the wireless communication device and transmit a data restriction message for delivery to the wireless communication device when the data bandwidth usage exceeds a usage threshold, wherein the data restriction message instructs the wireless communication device to limit a rate at which the data is provided to a user. The wireless communication device is configured to receive the data restriction message and determine individual amounts of the data associated with a plurality of applications of the wireless communication device. Further, the wireless communication device is configured to identify an application of the plurality of applications associated with an individual amount of the data that meets a criterion, and limit a delivery rate at which application data associated with the application is provided to the user based on the data restriction message.